Fewer PhD students will be trained by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in coming years despite the announcement of an extra £135 million for doctoral training, it has been confirmed.
As part of what the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) called the UK’s “biggest-ever investment in engineering and physical sciences doctoral skills”, the EPSRC will invest £479 million in 65 centres for doctoral training (CDTs), which will train “over 4,000 talented students across the UK” in the nine years from 2025.
That sum is substantially more than the £324 million for “about 40 CDTs” announced by the EPSRC in December 2022, which raised fears that hundreds of science PhD places were being lost. Previously, 75 CDTs were funded in the 2018 cycle, with each training about 50 PhD students over a five-year cycle, down from 115 four years earlier.
Confirming the new EPSRC settlement, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) said the investment includes an additional £135 million for CDTs, which will start in 2025.
